


The stars are out (and now I'm one of them)

by aroacejoot



Series: Eldritch horror? No, eldritch Family [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Drabble, Eldritch Anakin Skywalker, Eldritch Obi-Wan Kenobi, Gen, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Vague Body Horror, eldritch domesticity, i am determined to coin the tag, obi-wan loves his padawan even if he sometimes has too many limbs and gives people headaches, thats just how children are amirite?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:35:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroacejoot/pseuds/aroacejoot
Summary: It wasn’t Anakin’s fault. He was only a child, a bright and innocent little boy who could bend the laws of reality but still had trouble with his Aurebesh. A child who never asked to be made the way he was--a shifting, pulsing well of Power too deep to fathom and too Vast to comprehend. He’d merely sought comfort in the best way he knew and had no way to know what might happen.(When Obi-Wan told Qui-Gon the boy was dangerous, he wasn’t necessarily wrong. Obi-Wan just ended up becoming dangerous too.)
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Eldritch horror? No, eldritch Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986016
Comments: 29
Kudos: 381
Collections: New SW Canon Server Works





	The stars are out (and now I'm one of them)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlabasterInk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlabasterInk/gifts).



> This one goes out to the 7 straight hours of Eldritch Thoughts over on the New SW Canon discord (especially big shout out to AlabasterInk for tossing the eldritch beach ball with me on this for so long)
> 
> and thanks to GraceEliz for beta reading!

More often than not Obi-Wan’s brain had a hitchhiker. 

It had been a little over a standard revolution since Obi-Wan had taken Anakin as his apprentice. Despite being thrust rather abruptly into the role of a mentor, he worked hard to ensure that his Padawan was not getting a lesser education due to his late start or his Master’s inexperience. 

Anakin had an earnest eagerness that made him a joy and--occasionally--a frustration to teach. He soaked up information like a sponge and yet always had a thousand more questions. It was hard to keep up at times, even for someone like Obi-Wan who, if his crechemates were to be believed, had always been somewhat of an academic. More than once, Obi-Wan had to run off to the Archives for research after Anakin’s ravenous curiosity reached the end of his Master’s knowledge. 

(Though perhaps it was Obi-Wan’s imagination, or his Padawan’s unique outside perspective, but it often seemed like Anakin knew things he shouldn’t. Theories about the Force that Jedi pondered for centuries tumbled absently from his mouth like they were obvious. At other times he would reject a lesson with the petulant stubbornness of a person who  _ knew _ they were correct and were baffled how others didn’t understand.) 

Out of all his studies Anakin loved lightsaber training the most, that much was clear. All the kyber in the training salles sang his excitement in such a deafening cacophony that he’d had to start booking rooms for private practice. His Shii-Cho was coming along nicely now.

Still, a good portion of their time together so far had been focused on simply teaching Anakin self-containment. Being Force-sensitive around the boy when he first arrived at the Temple had been like being stuck in a lift with a krayt dragon. There wasn't enough room for you both to be there--at least not without injury--and if anyone was getting pushed out when the doors opened it certainly wouldn’t be the krayt. 

Anakin had eventually learned how to stop broadcasting himself halfway across Coruscant (oh, he  _ wished _ that were an exaggeration. However, the complaints the Order had received in those first few tendays were proof that an unshielded Anakin could cause migraines from the other side of the planet. Hardly surprising, considering he could give Obi-Wan a headache no matter the distance, though admittedly for reasons which had little to do with shielding), but it seemed their training bond provided a path of least resistance for Anakin’s terrifyingly massive mental presence to redirect itself. 

They had built a dam around the mighty river of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan was the poor town on the banks buried by the flooding. 

They were working on it. 

In all honesty, Obi-Wan was genuinely proud of his Padawan’s progress. It couldn’t be easy to restrain such a vast ocean within such a small form. Especially when--in small flickers and quiet revelations--it became clear that there was much more _substance_ ~~and so many more limbs~~ to Anakin than his seemingly human body would imply. 

So even after he’d managed to erect sturdy shields, he often ended up stretching his mental legs out into Obi-Wan’s mind when ‘cozy’ grew cramped and ‘contained’ became claustrophobic. Much like Qui-Gon’s plant collection, it took time and finagling to reach a point where there wasn't a good chunk of Anakin sprawled out on Obi-Wan's half of the bond at all hours. He was practically a tooka if tookas were larger and made of galaxies. At least, by this point, Obi-Wan had grown so accustomed to carrying the mental weight of Anakin that it no longer felt as though his thoughts would be squeezed from his head by the pressure. 

Or perhaps Anakin had simply learned to be a more conscientious passenger. 

Obi-Wan knew he should probably be wary of Anakin’s constant mental contact--he himself had once warned Qui-Gon of the boy’s incredible power. And yet, something about his Padawan’s crushing presence was comforting, wrapped around his mind like strangle vines and a heavy blanket. 

And even though it was vital that Anakin learn how to stay contained within himself for the safety of those around him, his absence always left Obi-Wan feeling cold and exposed. Empty even. 

He didn’t want to know why he might feel  _ empty _ .

He found out anyway; scratching at eyes his human body didn’t have, hearing the voice of the Force in his dreams and the whispers of Fate in his ears through pounding headaches, growing nauseous from glimpsing the very fabric of time with every blink.

He was no longer empty.

It wasn’t Anakin’s fault. He was only a child, a bright and innocent little boy who could bend the laws of reality but still had trouble with his Aurebesh. A child who never asked to be made the way he was--a shifting, pulsing well of Power too deep to fathom and too Vast to comprehend. He’d merely sought comfort in the best way he knew and had no way to know what would happen. 

No, Obi-Wan could never blame his Padawan.

Besides, the Change was inevitable. Obi-Wan could See that now, feel the _rightness_ etched in the bones of his lesser form as the stars slotted into place. It had always been the will of the Force for him to become this. He might as well adapt and get used to it.

At least Anakin wouldn't have to bear his burden alone anymore.


End file.
